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Kamala Harris on Budget & Economy
Democratic candidate for President (withdrawn); California Senator
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A new approach: national ban on price gouging
One of my aspects of doing what we need to do to bring down the cost of living for working people and the middle class in America is to address the issue of grocery prices. And part of my plan is to create a new approach, that is the first time that we
will have a national ban on price gouging, which is companies taking advantage of the desperation and need of the American consumer and jacking up prices without any consequence or accountability.
Source: CNN Town Hall: interviews of 2024 presidential candidates
, Oct 23, 2024
Build an "opportunity economy", not Trump Tax of $4000
Q: Do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?HARRIS: I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. I have a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy. We know that we have a shortage
of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children. And I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000. My opponent has a plan that
I call the Trump sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month. Economists have said that Trump's sales tax would actually result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year because of his
policies.
TRUMP: I have no sales tax. That's an incorrect statement. We're doing tariffs on other countries. I had tariffs and yet I had no inflation. Look, we've had a terrible economy; we have inflation like very few people have ever seen before.
Source: ABC News 2024 Presidential debate in Philadelphia
, Sep 10, 2024
I am offering an opportunity economy
HARRIS: Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it's all about tax breaks for the richest people. I am offering what I describe as an opportunity economy, and the best economists in our country, if not the world, have
reviewed our relative plans for the future of America. What Goldman Sachs has said is that Donald Trump's plan would make the economy worse. Mine would strengthen the economy. What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump's plan would actually explode
the deficit. 16 Nobel laureates have described his economic plan as something that would increase inflation and by the middle of next year would invite a recession. TRUMP: Look, I went to the Wharton School of Finance and many of those top professors,
think my plan is a brilliant plan. She doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan. And it's like four sentences, like run-Spot-run. Four sentences that are just "oh, we'll try and lower taxes." She doesn't have a plan. Take a look at her plan.
Source: ABC News 2024 Presidential debate in Philadelphia
, Sep 10, 2024
Provide first-time homebuyers up to $25K for down payments
As more new homes are built and affordable housing supply increases, Vice President Harris will provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 to help with their down payments, with more generous support for first-generation homeowners.
This will help more Americans experience the pride of homeownership and the financial security that it represents and brings – offering more Americans a path to the middle class and economic opportunity.
Source: 2024 Presidential campaign website KamalaHarris.com
, Sep 9, 2024
Post-COVID, we brought inflation down to less than 3%
Q: You have been vice president for 3-1/2 years. The ["opportunity economy"] that you're talking about now, why haven't you done them already?HARRIS: First of all, we had to recover as an economy, and we have done that. I'm very proud of the work
that we have done that has brought inflation down to less than 3%, the work that we've done to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors. Donald Trump said he was gonna do a number of things, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
Never happened. We did it.
Q: So you maintain Bidenomics is a success.
HARRIS: I maintain that when we do the work of bringing down prescription medication for the American people, including capping the cost--of the annual cost of prescription
medication for seniors at $2,000; when we do what we did in the first year of being in office to extend the child tax credit so that we cut child poverty in America by over 50%; I'll say that that's good work. There's more to do, but that's good work.
Source: CNN on 2024 Hopefuls: joint interview of Harris and Walz
, Aug 29, 2024
Lower cost plan: housing; groceries; medical; and taxes
It is easy enough to understand what is motivating Kamala Harris's economic strategy: Poll after poll demonstrates that many Americans consider the cost of living to be their main concern heading into the election in November, during a time when
inflation soared to a four-decade high. Rather than gloss over this ugly reality, she is trying to confront it. "Lower costs for American families" is the centrepiece of her economic agenda.
But just because her strategy is understandable does not make it sensible. Her prescriptions risk taking America further down the road of self-defeating economic policies. Ms Harris's cost-of-living plan may open a new phase in the worrying odyssey.
She takes aim at four categories of costs: housing; groceries; medical; and taxes. Although some of her ideas are good and helpful, many more would end up weighing on growth and driving up prices--the exact opposite of their intended effect.
Source: The Economist on 2024 Presidential hopefuls
, Aug 21, 2024
FactCheck: no evidence for pandemic price-gouging
Ms Harris wants to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries. This may not herald a return to the price controls witnessed under President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, but the intellectual underpinning for such a policy is
nonetheless half-baked. A common charge of the left-wing is that companies fuelled inflation during the covid-19 pandemic by taking advantage of shortages to jack up prices--but there was no evidence of higher mark-ups at the aggregate level.Although
Ms Harris's promise to crack down on unfair mergers and acquisitions in the food industry that lead to less competition and higher prices is unobjectionable, in reality it is little more than a restatement of America's existing anti-monopoly policy.
The Federal Trade Commission is, for instance, currently embroiled in a legal battle to block the biggest supermarket merger in American history.
Source: The Economist on 2024 Presidential hopefuls
, Aug 21, 2024
Economic numbers conceal more than reveal
This president walks around flouting his great economy. You ask him, how are you measuring this greatness? He talks about the stock market. That's fine if you own stocks; many families do not. You ask him, how are you measuring the greatness of this
economy? They point to the jobless numbers and the unemployment numbers. People in America are working. They're working two and three jobs. No one should have to work more than one job to have a roof over their head and food on the table.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami)
, Jun 27, 2019
Prosecuted fewer foreclosure fraud cases than smaller states
Harris was a firm proponent of civil asset forfeiture, sponsoring a bill to allow prosecutors to seize profits before charges were even filed. Years before that, she opposed AB 639, a bill that aimed to reform asset forfeiture.
The bill easily cleared the state assembly but was soon scuttled by a united wall of opposition from law enforcement, with whom Harris was united.
Her Mortgage Fraud Strike Force opened in 2011, employing twenty-five lawyers and investigators with a budget of more than $2 million to go after foreclosure fraud. The strike force managed to prosecute just ten cases in three years, an
East Bay Express investigation in 2014 found. It had filed fewer lawsuits than attorneys general in smaller states with fewer victims, and even fewer than some county district attorneys. Yet California led the country in terms of such scam operations.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2018 California Senate race
, Aug 10, 2017
$20B for struggling homeowners during mortgage crisis
Following the national mortgage crisis, Attorney General Harris secured more than $20 billion for struggling
California homeowners from the nation's banks and wrote the nation's most comprehensive package of foreclosure reforms.
Source: 2016 Senate campaign website, KamalaHarris.org
, Apr 1, 2015
Provide protections for homeowners in bank dealings
The bills provide first of their kind protections for homeowners and reforms to the mortgage and foreclosure process. The bills were approved 53 to 25 in the Assembly and 25 to 13 in the Senate. Said Attorney General Harris, "These common-sense
reforms will require banks to treat California homeowners more fairly and bring more transparency and accountability to their practices in our state. Responsible homeowners will have a better shot to keep their homes."
Source: 2012 California A.G./gubernatorial press release
, Jul 2, 2012
Provide protections for homeowners in bank dealings
The bills provide first of their kind protections for homeowners and reforms to the mortgage and foreclosure process. The bills were approved 53 to 25 in the Assembly and 25 to 13 in the Senate. Said Attorney General Harris, "These common-sense
reforms will require banks to treat California homeowners more fairly and bring more transparency and accountability to their practices in our state. Responsible homeowners will have a better shot to keep their homes."
Source: 2012 California A.G./gubernatorial press release
, Jul 2, 2012
Voted YES on $900 billion COVID relief package.
Harris voted YEA Consolidated Appropriations Act (COVID Relief bill)
NPR summary of HR133:
- $600 checks for every adult and child earning up to $75,000, and smaller checks if earning up to $99,000.
- Unemployment: extend enhanced benefits for jobless workers, $300 per week through March.
- Rental assistance: $25 billion to help pay rent; extends eviction moratorium until Jan. 31.
- SNAP assistance: $13 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- PPP loans: $284 billion for Paycheck Protection Program loans, expanding eligibility to include nonprofits, news/TV/radio media, broadband access, and movie theaters & cultural institutions
- Child care centers: $10 billion to help providers safely reopen.
- $68 billion to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and tests at no cost.
- $45 billion in transportation-related assistance, including airlines and Amtrak.
- $82 billion in funding for schools and universities to assist with reopening
- $13 billion for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program for growers and
livestock producers.
Argument in opposition: Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV-2) said after voting against H.R. 133: `Congress voted to spend another $2.3 trillion [$900 billion for COVID relief], which will grow our national debt to about $29 trillion. The federal government will again have to borrow money from nations like China. This massive debt is being passed on to our children and grandchildren. With multiple vaccines on the way thanks to President Trump and Operation Warp Speed, we do not need to pile on so much additional debt. Now is the time to safely reopen our schools and our economy. HR133 was another 5593-page bill put together behind closed doors and released moments prior to the vote.`
Legislative outcome: Passed House 327-85-18, Roll #250, on Dec. 21. 2020; Passed Senate 92-6-2, Roll #289, on Dec. 21; signed by President Trump on Dec 27 [after asking for an increase from $600 to $2,000 per person, which was introduced as a separate vote].
Source: Congressional vote 20-HR133 on Jan 15, 2020
Page last updated: Nov 03, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org